Political Punishment

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It's very interesting to me that all the right wing can think of is "punishing" people for voting in a black Democratic president. There's absolutely nothing being said about leadership, statesmanship and bipartisanship. Just, "We're gonna get you suckas and make you PAY for doing this!" If pundits want to complain that Obama is taking the battle to the enemy then they need to admit the Republicans were the ones who drew the line in the dirt in the first place. Most Democrats in this election cycle are just looking at the Republicans in horror and confusion at the outpouring of outright hatred.
Either way, I mourn for my country on a daily basis. Government is no longer government; it's class warfare and it's tearing this country apart.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader says in the NY Times, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
How about "Serve the American people well"?
People no longer even see the government as "government". All they see are partisanship lines. In some ways I believe we live in a more deeply divided country now then during the Civil War. It's just that no one has taken up arms yet. It scares me to think that there are crazies out there who just might do that.
One week after the anniversary of 9/11 I made my last blog post.
(http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/cait48/2010/sep/18/the-rise-of-the-new-nazis/)
The general consensus was that I was out of my mind.
But after seeing this little tidbit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMVql9RLP34 I'm not so sure I am. All you would have to do is replace the elderly Jew with an elderly Mexican. The two gay men can stay as metrosexual as they are in the clip. Put the young lad in a Tea Party tee shirt and have him singing "God Bless America" at the top of his lungs and you have a picture of 2010.
God bless America indeed. Because God only knows we need it.

Comments

On October 25th, these words from President Obama were broadcast:
"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're going to punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us"

Why shouldn't he strike back? The Right has had him under fire for two years! Shall I quote Mitch McConnell again? As I said in the post; Who drew the line in the dirt FIRST?
Your throwing that quote out is an indication that the President is just supposed to lay down and let bullies roll over him. I actually respect the man for refusing to do so and standing up to them.
God knows there's few enough with THAT kind of self respect these days!

We are simply trying to give the left that same bipartisan support they gave President Bush, without the foul language. What is wrong with that? The only problem is we will only be able to do it four two more years. Millions have lost their jobs, millions have lost their homes and under this administration there is no hope this is going to change anytime soon. We want the unemployment to be the same as it was when the left took over congress four years ago.

Respect is earned, it is not given. What has the president done to earn respect?

The President has tried, albeit too timidly and with too much deference to the corporate elites that control the political process, to deliver some improvement in the lives of the average middle to lower income American. Given the forces he is up against, he's probably lucky to still be alive for the audacity of attempting even what mild reforms he has attempted. Clearly our masters have now had enough of such foolishness and demonstrating who's really in control.

He has tried to enact financial reform (which was one big reason many lost their homes). He has tried to enact stimulus, which will help state budgets and create jobs (tho somewhat temporary) until the private economy can rebound. He has tried to enact health care reform, which at the end of the day has been watered down so much by Republican obstructionism that it is negligble and almost worse than what we had.

But with President Obama, he is the most clear speaking and honest politician that I can remember, next to Reagen and Kennedy. And for this, President Obama has my respect. This man does not speak from a speech written by someone else with typical soundbites, he is doing what he believes is in the best interest of Americans.

The unemployment rate was already high when Obama took office, and although the rate has not dropped as significantly as everyone wants, it is rising at a lower rate than when his predecessor was in office. People were already loosing their homes before Obama took office. These problems began before obama took office. Change is not going to happen overnight.

Large majorities of the American public supported, and still support, a public option. Rather than deliver that dithered for a year in the futile hope of nonexistent bipartisanship. Had the President simply elected to achieve a public option via reconciliation he'd have much more respect at this point and would have plunged the dagger a little closer to the heart of the SOB's ruining our country. I still think the anti-American big business, big media and big military interests would have destroyed him, but he'd have had a better chance for success and a good deal more left of center support at this point. But as I said, the murders of the Kennedy's, MLK, Malcolm X, etc. are constant reminders of what happens to the leader who pushes too hard against such forces.

Scott3460. I agree totally. Regarding health care, president Obama pushed for a public option. This would have been a monumental change to fairness in health care, but it was watered down by compromise brought on by Republicans and blue dog Democrats. A public option would have increased the insurance pool and relieved pressure from employers, employees, and Medicare and Medicaid. This would have improved the system dramaticallly, and would have only hurt the health insurance at a minimum (tho this topic can be debated).

So we do have some minor improvements, ie pre-existing conditions, and dependent coverage up to age 26, it is only minor.

But in the end, I dismiss the political ads as saying "I oppose Obama" etc. Utter nonsense. Forget them. At the end of the day, America is basically split 50/50. This is a blessing and a curse. We won't see much change. We will see status quo. And status quo is subject to the changes of time which equally bring suffering and prosperity.

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're going to punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us" --Obama
"Why shouldn't he strike back? The Right has had him under fire for two years! Shall I quote Mitch McConnell again? As I said... *Who drew the line in the dirt first?" --Cait48

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled.
Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

"In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long."

Obama's stand on illegal immigration is nothing more than a powergrab. Trying to get votes from "Latinos" to punish the Americans who would vote against him. He talks out of the side of his face with his talk of partisanship, pettiness, and immaturity. He was hardly in office a week before we began hearing his "I inherited this problem from the Republicans" mantra. His attitude of, "Well they did it first." is too much like my first graders social interactions for me to accept being chided for immaturity.

I didn't lump Latinos into the illegals category. I said his stand on illegal immigration is a powergrab. He is trying to secure the Latino vote by being sympathetic toward illegals. It is not a big stretch. Be tired of it all you want. I think this is not the first time you try to put words into peoples mouths in order to make... What was your point again?

I am always amazed at how people in this space seem to know exactly what motivates millions of their fellow citizens. Do you really think that assigning such low motives helps anything?? Could there be other motives?? Could some of these people be on the paying end of the many initiatives undertaken by Mr. Obama and they just do not like it? Could they really support him but want things to slow down for a while because the impacts to them are aggregated?

Do you really believe that everything that Mr. Obama (and the Congress) has done is positive for everyone? Are all those impacted negatively supposed to "take the medicine” that others prescribe for them - maybe they do not agree that they need that medicine? Are all their motives base? I sure would hate to live in a country where so many people were so stupid or self-serving - we just might not survive much longer?? What to do – what to do???